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70-year-old returned more than $10,000 worth of cans from Indiana to take advantage of Michigan's refund law on deposits

A 70-year-old Flint man, John Custer Woodfill, has pleaded guilty Monday to returning more than $10,000 worth of out-of-state, non-returnable beverage containers, according to a statement from the office of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.

It was discovered that, from 2012-15, Woodfill was buying uncrushed, non-returnable cans in Indiana as scrap, then returning them to Michigan to redeem the 10-cents-per-can deposit refund with the help of a partner who's now deceased.

The partner would purchase local, non-refundable soda and beer cans for 60-80 cents per pound in Brownstown, Ind., then Woodfill would trailer them to Flint to take advantage of Michigan's refund law on deposits, the statement said.

“This was not a one-time nickel-and-dime case,” Schuette said in the statement. “This man orchestrated bogus refunds for tens of thousands of non-returnable beverage containers. In effect he stole from Michigan’s bottle return program that has long served to protect and promote a healthy environment. His actions also negatively affected distributors, merchants and even consumers who carry much of the burden in making the program work.”

For some of the beverage containers, Woodfill used "phony labels" to give the appearance of a proper bar code for automatic return machines.

This is an issue state lawmakers have tried to crack down on for years since 1978, when Michigan became the only state that refunds 10 cents per can or bottle. But it may sound really familiar if you're a fan of "Seinfeld," the long-running NBC sitcom from the 1990s.

In one episode, "The Bottle Deposit" - which aired in 1996, during the show's 7th season - Kramer and Newman hatch a scheme to return New York cans and bottles in Michigan, where they can earn 10 cents per deposit instead of 5. Newman, a mailman, crunches the numbers and decides they'll use a mail truck carrying spillover Mother's Day mail to be sorted in Saginaw, therefore bypassing gas and rental fees.

As part of the guilty plea, Woodfill owes $400,000 in restitution to the state of Michigan and forfeited the van and trailer he used during the scheme, the statement said. He will be sentenced May 2.